One of my main takeaways (okay, overreactions) from the first and second practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix was that Yuki Tsunoda was the one actually given the top Red Bull seat after all.
Both of Racing Bulls drivers, Tsunoda and rookie teammate Isack Hadjar, beat out Red Bull's two drivers, four-time reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen and newcomer teammate Liam Lawson, in the second session. Lawson was selected over the much more experienced Tsunoda to replace Sergio Perez after last year.
Lawson had a weekend to forget, and after a "messy affair" in preseason testing, there were already calls for him to be ousted, and not just from the Mexican fans disgruntled over Perez's departure. Lawson was never remotely quick – Verstappen was in a different time zone – and his race ended with a spin.
Yet even Verstappen wasn't supposed to contend for the win, and he nearly beat those suspicions altogether.
It was McLaren's Lando Norris, who took pole with his stellar single-lap pace around Albert Park Circuit, who took the top spot, ending Verstappen's 63-race reign atop the world championship standings to start the season. Yet he beat Verstappen by under a second in a race where the papaya cars were largely uncontested.
Multiple safety cars helped keep Verstappen in the fight. But what really kept him in the fight was the fact that both Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri skidded off the track when the rain started to fall.
Norris, unlike Piastri, was able to save it, and he immediately pit for intermediate tires, with his off-track excursion conveniently coming right before pit entry. Verstappen, however, stayed out for another lap on medium tires, and he actually gained ground on Norris. He could have come into the pits the following lap and retained the lead.
But Red Bull made the call to keep him out one lap too long, and by the time he got back around the 14-turn, 3.28-mile (5.279-kilometer) road course a second time, his gap over Norris was not large enough to keep him in front after he too came into the pits.
Following a late safety car restart, Norris pulled away from Verstappen. But another mistake from the McLaren driver in turn six saw Verstappen surge back into DRS range, get to within 0.2 seconds, and make several attempts to pass his rival, though he ultimately had to settle for second place.
Norris was hailed for his "world championship drive", and he undoubtedly withstood a boatload of pressure in challenging conditions to get the job done. If he drives like that all year, there is little reason to believe he won't have a great chance to win his first world title.
But he still made multiple mistakes in what was undoubtedly the race's strongest car, and above all, he benefited from Red Bull's pit call blunder (though it wasn't nearly as bad as Ferrari's).
But unlike Norris did after Verstappen went from 17th to first to dominate in the rain in Brazil last year, Verstappen didn't put down his rival by stating "it's not talent, it's just luck".
It would have been a perfect opportunity for a cheeky dig at his longtime buddy, given Red Bull's strategy mishap, but he obviously didn't find it necessary or appropriate.
And it wouldn't have been, because neither was Lando's comment.
Of course, Norris would go on to say later in the year that he regretted making that statement, though that much was obvious when he deleted his Instagram story congratulating Verstappen, given that it was largely taken as him simply trying to backtrack and thus it received even more backlash.
Norris has now won back-to-back races for the first time in his career, and he is set to enter the Chinese Grand Prix as the world championship leader for the first time. ESPN is set to provide live coverage from Shanghai International Circuit, where Verstappen won both the sprint and the Grand Prix last year, beginning at 2:55 a.m. ET on Sunday, March 23, so start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!